Possible New Treatment for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Although 60% of patients can be cured with a currently available combination therapy, this leaves a substantial number of patients (40%) without a cure.

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Recently, a team of researchers, led by Ari Melnick, at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, has now identified a potential new combinatorial therapy for DLBCL. Specifically, the team found that combining an inhibitor of the protein BCL6 with either an inhibitor of HDAC proteins or an inhibitor of the Hsp90 protein enhanced killing of primary human DLBCL cells in vitro relative to the use of the BCL6 inhibitor alone. Both drug combinations also potently suppressed the growth of established human DLBCL xenografts in mice or even eradicated the tumors completely. These data provide a rational basis for designing combination therapy clinical trials in patients with DLBCL.